Overview
Commercial-scale gold production in Burkina Faso has not yet started however, there is much exploration activity and a handful of projects are at the advanced development stage. Gold is one of Burkina Faso’s primary exploration and development targets. Whilst Burkina Faso has only a few small operating gold mines, several promising projects could see the development of several new mining operations.
Orezone Resources have established several gold exploration permits in Burkina Faso. The total number of permits under Orezone’s control is 6, for a total area of 2500km² . Orezone, along with Delta Gold have signed a letter of intent to develop the Intiédougou and Tomena properties in the southwest of the country. Orezone have also acquired the 450 sq.km Seguenega Permit that has already had more than $2.5 million spent on it to date by previous operators Placer Dome and Repadre Capital Corp. Early 2002 saw the merger between Coronation International Mining Corpm and Orezone Resources. Earlier, Coronation had entered into an agreement over the evaluation of the Essakan Gold deposit located in the northeast of the country. A resource containing at least 1 Moz has been delineated. South Africa’s Gold Fields have entered into an agreement to earn up to 60% interest in the Essakan Project by funding a BFS over Essakan. In August 2004 Orezone Resources Inc , announced that US$11.6 million would be spent over the next 12 months on exploration, including US$5.2 million on the Essakan property that will be fi nanced by joint-venture partner Gold Fields Ltd (which is earning up to 60%) and US$5.8 million by Orezone on its wholly-owned Bondi and Sega projects.
Resolute have some excellent prospects focusing on the Inata trend, a 7km long sediment hosted, quartz reef system. Resolute have identified several anomalous gold showings. The project areas are located approximately 225km north and north-east of the capital Ouagadougou. The project encompasses 1,600km2of highly prospective Birimian Proterozoic greenstone-sediment terrain.
Québec-based Semafo Inc is completing a feasibil- ity study for the Mana project, with the objective of starting production in 2006. Recently, deep drilling has begun to test the extension at depth of the Wona deposit within its Mana-Kona properties. The program will comprise a series of ten diamond-drilled holes with RC pre-collars, for a total of about 2,000 m.
In May 2004, Axmin Inc reported the completion of a ‘bankable’ feasibility study for the Bouroum permit, which incorporates the reserves of the Bouroum project with that of High River Gold Mines Ltd ‘s Taparko project. The mineable reserves (at a gold price of US$350/oz) amount to 861,000 t at a grade of 3.97 g/t Au Axmin and High River Gold have established a joint venture that will ensure the continued exploration of Axmin’s permits in Burkina Faso. These comprise the remainder of the Bouroum permit plus the two adjacent permits Yeou and Ankouna.
High River Gold received an exploitation permit for the Taparko mine in July 2004, construction is under way and commercial production is expected to begin in the December quarter of 2005. The Taparko mill will process ore both from the Taparko gold deposits and from the nearby Bouroum gold deposits, located 49 km to the northwest.
Jilbey Gold Exploration Ltd has exploration permits totalling 3,800 km2, in the Taparka area in the northeast, at Bissa Hill in central Burkina Faso and in the Hounde area in the southwest. A drilling programme is under way at Bissa Hill.
St Jude Resources Ltd, continues to report encouraging drilling results from its 90%-owned Goulagou project where it is attempting to define a mineable bulk tonnage oxide resource. The GG2 zone has been traced along strike for some 1.6 km and at GG1 there now appear to be two parallel zones.
Organisations (5)
High River Gold Mines (West Africa) Ltd, Kalsaka gold mine, Orezone Resources Inc (Burkina Faso), Ridge Mining (Burkina) Sarl, Sahelian Goldfields :[ Add More ]
Facilities (16)
Belahouro Gold Deposit, Bombore Gold Deposit, Essakan, Guiro, Kalsaka, Kerboule, Malba Copper/Gold Project, Mana, Maoula, Perkoa, Poura, Rounga, Tambao, Taparko, Tounte, Youga
Participating Organisations
Etruscan Resources Inc
Etruscan Resources has extensive permit holdings in the Banfora Gold Belt in western Burkina Faso.
Orezone Resources Inc
Sahelian Goldfields
Sahelian have been rehabilitating the country’s only gold mine, Poura. Poura suspended operations in 1999 due to the low gold price.
